History

The Sign of Jonah Clinic was founded in 1993 with an original mandate to provide to formerly homeless and low-income residents access to acupuncture treatment, Chinese herbal medicine, and a family-like community supportive of healthful living. At that time, two epidemics were consuming Washington, DC: HIV infection and substance abuse. These social "twins" were having a devastating effect on the physical, emotional and spiritual health of our city's residents. These conditions led the clinic to expand its healing mandate to include people in recovery from substance abuse, and people living with HIV/AIDS, the formerly homeless and people with limited economic means.

Opening its doors for service on March 12, 1993, the Sign of Jonah was originally dreamed into being by Sarah Levering-Smith, an acupuncturist who felt a strong calling to serve the needs of socially marginalized people. She received spiritual and financial support from the community surrounding the Church of the Saviour. The Church of the Saviour is a non-denominational, non-sectarian church with an integrated network of nonprofit organizations providing social services for the homeless, the under-served, the uninsured, and the community residents in Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Shaw, and Mt. Pleasant.

The Sign of Jonah Clinic also received financial and mentoring support from the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in suburban Maryland. Known now as the Tai Sophia Institute, and located on its own campus in Laurel, MD, Tai Sophia is the oldest fully accredited institution granting graduate degrees in acupuncture in the U.S. Its Masters in Acupuncture (M.Ac.) program involves a rigorous three years of study and practice. The Tai Sophia Institute is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (www.msche.org). Its acupuncture program is also accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (www.acaom.org).

The early focus of the Sign of Jonah Clinic on people in recovery from substance abuse, the homeless and formerly homeless, and people living with HIV/AIDS, has now been expanded even further to include people who struggle with chronic mental illness and other conditions.

In late summer of 1996, Sign of Jonah responded to a request from Samaritan Inns — a nonprofit organization that provides transitional housing for people in addiction recovery in the Adams Morgan neighborhood — to provide detox acupuncture to their program participants. Today, acupuncturists Janet W. Smith, Maria Mercedes Bejarano, and Suzzanne Lohr offer auricular detox acupuncture for 18-24 participants twice weekly, in Samaritan Inns' beautiful 28-day residential facility on the second floor of the Festival Center on Columbia Road NW, just off 16th Street; effectively supporting residents in their early recovery. Our detox acupuncturists are paid by Samaritan Inns through a Johnson Foundation grant. The Sign of Jonah now also provides similar support to the Bridge Back addiction recovery program operated by the Whitman-Walker Clinic. Graduates of these residential treatment programs are encouraged to continue receiving the support of acupuncture at Sign of Jonah.